


A Living Faith of the Heart

by Evilchuckle



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 08:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilchuckle/pseuds/Evilchuckle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Pack's cover story causes Stiles more problems with his father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Living Faith of the Heart

Boyd’s mother was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She wanted to know exactly what was going on. And she wanted to know now. She was worried for and loved her son. She sagged in relief when he told her how Derek Hale was the leader of a youth church group. 

A week later and Boyd admitted to the pack what had happened. They were sitting in the woods, enjoying the summer sun. The whole pack was there expect Lydia who was spending the evening with Allison. Erica found it highly amusing, but she could see the sense of it. Now they could go out together and nobody would judge or question. By putting themselves under the umbrella of Christianity they would no longer look like a gang or cult. 

Scott shrugged it off, his mom knew what was really going on, and what the rest of Beacon Hills thought didn’t matter to him. Isaac meanwhile thought it a great idea, this would really help his reputation, stop the looks, and whispers, stop parents from hiding their children when he walked past. 

“This is a terrible, terrible idea.” Only Stiles was against it. “Think about it, what if somebody really wants to join, and who here even goes to church? Guys this is ridiculous, please can we not do this.”

“Stiles, we’ll deal with each person who wants to join separately, play it by ear. Meanwhile Boyd goes to the Episcopal Church with his family, and Isaac and I go to the Baptist Church sometimes.” Derek replied, he was all for this idea, his pack wasn’t a ‘family’ so they needed a socially acceptable excuse. Being viewed as a cult or gang like group drew attention, which is something they did not need. 

“What about Erica?”

“My Dad is Born Again, he’ll love this. And Lydia and I were talking about this yesterday, she thinks an inter-denominational group would look great on her college application, she’s all for it.” 

“Yeah dude, there is no downside to this. Why are you so against this?”

“Scott, you should understand, you’ve come to Passover at my house.” Scott paused, over the past few years Scott and his Mom would go over to the Stilinski household and celebrate Passover. Once an old relative of Stiles had been there, Scott was still impressed with how quickly Stiles and his Dad were able to switch from Yiddish back to English, and then Hebrew. It wasn’t a secret that the Sheriff was Jewish, he was one of only five families in Beacon Hills who were. There wasn’t a synagogue or a Rabbi; the families would alternate Saturdays between each other’s houses. 

However due to the Sheriff’s work hours he rarely got the whole of Shabbat off, and Stiles had often told Scott how he didn’t like to go without his dad. 

“You were there for my Bar Mitzvah.” Which had been a keyed down affair. Stiles’ mom had been in the hospital, due to complication with her burns, and three of the four other Jewish families had refused to come, claiming that Stiles shouldn’t have had one. 

Erica jumped down from the tree she was in, landing next to Stiles and looking up at the sky. “If you’re so Jewish why are you here on a Friday evening?” 

Derek stepped in, not wanting this to escalate. He wanted everybody to be comfortable with being themselves in the pack. “Erica,” he growled and she back off, “Stiles I didn’t know this would cause you discomfort but the cover story has already been out there for a week. I’m sorry.”

Stiles looked at Derek and saw general remorse there. Since the Alpha pack and come and been, Derek had being trying to be less rage monster and more pack leader. He was still far from perfect, but at times like this Stiles could see that one day Derek would be a brilliant leader. 

***

In that almost perfectly scripted way that life had his dad was waiting for him when he got home. 

He looked tired, which seemed to be his general persona lately. He tried a smile but it just came up as a grimace. He looked at his son and thought of all the ways he had failed him. He gestured for Stiles to sit down, and stopped him from talking. He had to explain to his son what he was thinking. 

“I failed you and your Mom, after the firebomb at your Mosque, I thought coming out here and letting you hide would be for the best. It’s not like those first few years after 9/11 you don’t have to fear being a Muslim. This is America you should be free to believe what you want. 

“I know it’s been hard to grow up the son of a failed Rabbi, and a Portuguese Muslim. But I thought you were doing so well. Your mix of Judaism and Islam always impressed me. But you never tell anyone.

“Stiles have you hidden yourself so much that you join a group of Christians. We’ve always been comfortable talking about faith with each other, if you were thinking of converting you would have told me. I just, Stiles, I’m sorry.”

Stiles watched his dad’s confession. He hated this, his dad had always supported his mother’s faith. They had met on a plane. His dad always spoke about that first meeting with something like awe. His mom had just done the Haji and she was glowing with it, his dad was touring the world, before joining the ARJ. Seeing her faith he realised he didn’t have that much and wasn’t meant to be a Rabbi. They backpacked in France together, she learning English and he Portuguese. They got married in Luxembourg, under a canopy with a walimah afterwards. 

They decided to live in Chicago, where they had their son. He spoke Portuguese with his mother, and Yiddish with his father. He learnt Arabic at Mosque and Hebrew at Synagogue. Stiles’ parents wanted to him to know all of his cultural heritage, and let him decide what religion he wanted to be. He ended up being both a Jew and a Muslim, it worked for him and the family. 

After 9/11 things got difficult. Being from Europe and not an Arab meant that Stiles and his mother did not face racism every day, but they did face problems whenever they went to Mosque.

It was only after the Mosque was firebombed that Stiles began to hide. His mother suffered third degree burns over 21% of her body, it took her eight years to die from her wounds. 

The family moved to Beacon Hills, and they hid. Stiles and his mother were still Muslim, they celebrated Ramadan, Eid, and the Prophet’s birthday. Stiles told no one his first name   
was Muhammad, and would never protest at people’s misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. 

“Dad, I’m sorry. This is not your fault. Scott joined the group and I just followed. I don’t join in their cannibalism,” this got a small snort from his father; “they know I’m not Christian, I just want to spend time with my friends.” He always planned to be more open with his faith when he left for college, he had spent so much time blending in and hiding in Beacon Hills he wouldn’t know how to be open and honest. 

Stiles could only sit and watch helplessly as his dad sat there spiralling deeper into his guilt. He had always felt guilty that he hadn’t been able to help his wife. That he brought her here to this country to die. 

And now the idea that Stiles was in a Christian youth group, it showed him how much he had failed as a husband and a father. 

“Go to bed Stiles”. Stiles obeyed knowing it was code for ‘I’m tired, I can’t deal with my guilt, I just want to forget’.

**Author's Note:**

> I know the dates don't quite work. Stiles would have only been a toddler at the time of the 9/11 attacks but for the purpose of this imagine him around 6, with his mum dying when he was around 14. 
> 
> While I'm here I want to recommend the film 'My Name is Khan' to you. It is an awful sad film about dealing with being Muslim in America post 9/11.


End file.
